Colored or tinted paints are most commonly prepared in the prior art by providing base paint in a typically cylindrical can with a lid, providing a multitude of colorants, on the top of the contents, at a colorant dispenser and mixing apparatus, removing the lid from the can (or punching a hole therein), introducing, via the colorant dispenser apparatus, the precise amount of colorants necessary to achieve the desired resultant paint color, replacing the lid (or plugging the hole) and vigorously shaking the can via the mixing apparatus, to fully disperse the toned colorants and achieve the desired resultant paint color. Virtually any color can be produced through this general method, with an appropriate dispenser and mixing apparatus, but it will be appreciated that both mechanical and operator errors are common in this method, especially for specialized paint colors that require precise metering of multiple colorants.
It is common for paint manufacturers and retailers to install expensive color centers displaying thousands of potential paint colors, in order to enhance the quality and brand recognition of their products. These color racks often complicate and confuse the less discriminating consumers in their color selection process, because they feature a heavily disproportionate number of deep and very intense, less popular and impractical colors. Also, as mentioned, each of these colors must be capable of reproduction in the above-mentioned paint tinting process, requiring that the correct amount of each colorant must be added to the base paint in the store, at the colorant dispenser and mixing apparatus. In this respect, expensive metering apparatus is required to dispense often minimal quantities of a number of colorants. Indeed, up to six different colorants might be needed to achieve some of the selected colors. In the apparatus and method herein, it is appreciated that such a wide range of color offerings is not necessary, and neither is the involved dispenser and mixing apparatus of the prior art.
Currently, providing a paint of a desired color is handled by the paint retailer, as mentioned above. Thus, retailers must invest in substantial space, equipment and trained employee services, and must also account for correcting errors and handling in-store spillage. Currently, there is no known apparatus and method that would allow a do-it-yourself or professional painter to tint a base paint by purchasing a base paint and desired colorants and dispersing those colorants through the base paint through a practical apparatus and method.
Aside from the involved dispenser and mixing apparatus, the prior art does not provide paint container means and additive mixing methods with a more do-it-yourself, on the job, focus. These means and methods suffer from the disadvantage of providing only for top-loading of multiple colorants of differing viscosity, specific gravity and solubility. Top-loading onto the top surface of the base paint within the container makes it difficult to mix the additive with the base paint by shaking the container without the use of a vigorous mixing machine, such as those mentioned above as employed in the retail field. These concepts also suffer from making the process of adding paint to the container either unduly laborious, messy and inaccurate with respect to gauging how much additive has actually been loaded into the container.
In the prior art, it is also necessary to err on the side of buying too much paint for a given job, with the consequence that there is often paint left over once the job is finished. This is inefficient and stems from the fact that the paint is purchased as already-toned paint, having been colored at the point of purchase. If a more universal base paint could be colored on the job as needed, such waste could be avoided or at least minimized.
Thus, there exists a need in the art for a paint container and colorant injector apparatus that may be employed by do-it-yourself and professional painters, without the need for specialized mechanical equipment and apparatus. There also exists a need in the art for a method for dispersing a colorant throughout a base paint that can be practiced on the job by a do-it-yourself or professional painters, without any special skills or elaborate equipment. A need also exists for paint retailers to be able to provide paint and colorant for purchase and mixing by an end user customer, thus eliminating the need for providing paint coloring personnel services and significant capital investment in the involved colorant injector and mixing apparatus of the prior art.